First off, I'd like to thank you for your comments earlier.
Our members take pride in feeding families in Canada and around the world precisely because of market access through free trade agreements—and not necessarily just those, but also through provisions provided by the WTO. There are many countries around the world that we export to where we don't necessarily have a free trade agreement. A free trade agreement allows a framework that provides better access and reduces tariff and non-tariff barriers. We've been leveraging free trade agreements in the CPTPP region across North America. With Europe, it has been challenging, even though our exports to that region have increased. We have encouraged the committee and others to consider reviewing free trade agreements now that Canada is in the midst of negotiating a number of free trade agreements with the U.K., Asia and Indonesia. Perhaps they can look at how well those free trade agreements implemented in recent years are doing, and profit from lessons learned and different ideas to apply as we move forward with negotiations.
In terms of the food manufacturing sector, certainly the level of investment, as pointed out by our food processing member, compared with that in the U.S.—a large competitor and also a large customer—reflects a disadvantage, and impacts—